Mounties in Richmond say charges have been approved against a 34-year-old man allegedly involved in a home invasion last year where thieves made off with 10-million dollars in cryptocurrency. Richmond RCMP say the investigation began in September 2022 after a home invasion where a middle-aged couple were assaulted and held against their will for several hours. Police say multiple suspects entered the home, some who impersonated police officers, and left with 10 million in unspecified cryptocurrency and luxury goods. Mounties say the Richmond man is now in custody awaiting trial on multiple charges including break and enter, robbery with a weapon, unlawful confinement, assault and extortion.
WorkSafe BC says it received multiple reports of workers killed on the job last month. WorkSafe says one forest management worker in northern BC was using an all terrain vehicle on a remote forest service road and was found dead under the ATV by searchers at the bottom of a trail after failing to check in at the end of their shift. It says another fatality reported last month involved a tugboat operator in the Lower Mainland who was killed when the vessel sank, an incident now being probed by the Transportation Safety Board. The worker safety organization says 181 workers were killed in BC in 2022, up from 161 the year before.
Mounties in Surrey say a store was hit by gunfire on Thursday, the second time this week within the same business complex on 128 Street. Police say officers found evidence of a shooting, but no one was injured and the business was closed at that time. Surrey RCMP say there was a robbery in the same area Wednesday morning, but investigators say the two incidents aren’t linked. Corporal Vanessa Munn says police will be upping patrols in the area and meeting with business owners about their concerns.
The Thompson-Nicola Regional District says it’s changing recycling policies to keep harmful waste out of local landfills. The regional district says its board has approved an expansion to its bylaw to stop hazardous waste and recyclable materials from being disposed of in landfills. The regional district says it launched a public consultation in the fall, hearing from upwards of three hundred people. The district says the rule will apply to several materials not previously included in the bylaw including antifreeze containers, batteries and propane tanks, and the bylaw is set to be implemented in the next six months.
BC’s Environment Ministry says new funding will help coastal communities and First Nations clean up 14-hundred kilometres of the province’s shorelines this year. The ministry says the Clean Coast, Clean Water Initiative chose eight projects this year in hopes of removing at least 70 derelict vessels from BC waters. Environment Minister George Heyman says the projects show the importance of First Nations’ stewardship and that derelict boats and other harmful debris don’t belong on BC shorelines. The ministry says the Ocean Legacy Foundation, the Coastal Restoration Society and the Rugged Coast Research Society were selected for the funding this year, and the cleaning projects are supposed to be completed by February.
The City of Penticton says it’s lifting an evacuation order for 25 homes in a mobile home park that were threatened by a potential rock slide earlier this week. The city says a retaining wall has been built to protect the threatened properties, and residents of the homes can return now that the evacuation order has been lifted. The city says crews are set to begin stabilizing the rock, but the work could take several weeks to finish. Kristen Dixon, director of Penticton’s Emergency Operations Centre, says people should avoid the area near the Pleasant Valley Mobile Home since the embankment is still unstable and crews are still working.